At Tech For Campaigns we were thrilled to host four amazing leaders for two fireside chats last week. Ruchi Sanghvi, Dropbox VP of Ops and first female engineer at Facebook, along with David Chiu, member of the California State Assembly, joined us in person in San Francisco on December 12. New Hampshire Senator Maggie Hassan and Reshma Saujani, Founder and CEO of Girls Who Code, joined us online on December 13.
While the four speakers had distinctly unique insights, they were unified in their call to activism around these common themes.
Choose a cause you are passionate about
When asked how they got involved in the political/advocacy work they do, each one had a unique story to tell, and spoke to a cause led them to get involved. Ruchi Sanghvi and Reshma Saujani got were drawn to activism through issues of immigration. Saujani was inspired by Hillary Clinton’s first concession speech to start Girls Who Code. As Sanghvi said: “We need to stand up on DACA and call our elected officials. It’s a bi-partisan issue and we need to act by December 22.”
David Chiu got involved in politics after starting a VC-backed technology company and seeing how important it is for government to partner with tech companies. For Sen. Maggie Hassan, it was the experience of advocating for her son with a disability. “When you engage like that, you change the future and give a success platform to people who need it,” she said.
Tell stories
A big part of advocacy and activism is influencing people and getting them to take action. Too often, we lean on data alone. Sanghvi said, “It’s important to tell stories as well as give data on how immigrants improve communities and create jobs. Data is important, but stories activate.” She advises to stick to stories that are tangible, mapping a larger message to an everyday reality. “How do you rally people around climate change, unless they have firsthand experience? Same for cancer and healthcare. We need to translate to everyday experience and impact.” Chiu underscored how important communicating is: “We (Dems) know what values we stand for; we stand for the little guy, economic freedom, tolerance of diversity — but we don’t do a good job of communicating it.”
Digital matters
Digital technology is a critical ingredient. Tech for Campaigns Founder Jessica Alter noted when moderating the panel in San Francisco, that Republicans outspent Democrats 3:1 on digital. This is why we at TFC match campaigns with tech talent. In 2017, we helped flip 15 seats.
“Republicans tend to be closer to tech money, and Dems tend to be more grassroots,” said Chiu. “This is why Tech for Campaigns is so important to help connect digital talent and cutting edge technologies to progressive and centrist campaigns. Tech will be critical to flipping the House in 2018; we need more stories of impact.”
“I think we need to think about how technology can encourage a broader citizen participation in the political process,” noted Saujani. “A free and open internet is imperative. We need everyone’s voice to call your senators today to support Net Neutrality. We should all constantly be thinking about how tech can be used to engage citizens and bring us together.”
Technology and policy
Given the recent proliferation of fake news on the internet, both Sanghvi and Chiu agreed that technology companies should take responsibility proactively. “Increasing transparency is key to combatting the onslaught of fake news,” shared Sanghvi. As an early engineer at Facebook, she knows quite a bit about the issue: “We used to be naive and expect the free market will kick out the bad players. Now I believe that platforms are so powerful and influential that they must take responsibility. You can’t be neutral anymore. Facebook is investing a lot in it.” When asked by Alter if there should be a policy or a judgment call on when to step in, she advised to not start with policy, but instead give it a chance to evolve and iterate first.
A solid working relationship between tech and government is key, shared Chiu. “How do we take a step back and work with tech companies to level the playing field? A good working relationship between government and tech is a fine line — we need to set up new regulatory frameworks to accommodate new ideas.” A good example of this was Airbnb in San Francisco: hosts have to register to be an Airbnb host, in an attempt to limit the amount of time you can rent out your residence and discourage professional hoteliers from cashing in at the expense of residents.
Looking to the future, Sen. Hassan noted:“As we move forward in this economy with things like #IoT we have to be able to partner and share ideas with the private tech industry in new ways, one of which being how we can encourage people to get more involved in political process.”
Make your voice heard
“How do you make an issue something that people care about and become vocal?” asked Alter. “Get involved and be long-term focused. Show up at a hearing, support policies you care about,” shared Chiu. “Act and activate now while you’re young, don’t wait until the problem hits you,” advised Sanghvi.
Sen. Hassan asked the audience to become active at the grassroots level. “Doug Jones’ victory is what happens when we focus on grassroots, support local candidates and local get-out-the-vote campaigns.” She asked that all of us make our voice heard to your elected officials and hold them accountable: “Senators talk to each other about what they’re hearing from their constituents. Remember that decisions around things like voting and reproductive rights and education get made at the state level. You need to hold your state reps accountable. Engagement matters enormously. Encouraging your friends, family, neighbors, colleagues to interact with or meet or even just learn about the candidate you are supporting is really important.”
“I love how Twitter, Facebook and Instagram help gather like-minded people to use their collective voice to take a position on something,” Saujani echoed. “We need to figure out how to amplify these spaces to enhance our democracy. The #MeToo movement has been extraordinary in inspiring and bringing out women in ways we haven’t seen yet. Doug Jones won because of women, because women said ‘enough’.”
I hope you feel as inspired as I did after listening to our passionate and knowledgeable panelists. Make your voice heard, advocate for what’s important to you — and please join us to support great candidates in 2018 elections.
To follow along with future fireside chats, follow us on Facebook and Twitter, and follow along with the #TFCFiresideChats hashtag.
